Stepping out from behind the podium

I often advise clients to stand behind a podium or lectern, if that is appropriate for the context in which they are speaking. It can be helpful to steady your nerves – and your papers! – and gives you somewhere to place your hands. It’s not always the best way, however, and sometimes the circumstances call for a step towards the audience and, symbolically, the breaking down of a “barrier” between you and them. 

One such example arises in Episode 4 of the BBC’s excellent docudrama “The Bombing of Pan Am 103”. The series is a hard watch, but it does focus, rightly, not only on the massive task that the investigation presented for a relatively small police force, but also on the agony of the families who lost loved ones in this barbaric act of terrorism. Some of you reading this will remember the “Lockerbie bombing”. Like many, I remember where I was when I heard that a bomb had exploded on a passenger flight over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988, killing everyone on board and 11 people on the ground. 

The “speech” which is the subject of this month’s Update is that given by FBI Special Agent Dick Marquise (played by Patrick Adams in the BBC series). Dick Marquise leads the US investigation into the bombing in which 190 Americans lost their lives. In Episode 4, he faces the bereaved US families. By the time of his address, the families have mobilised, distressed by lack of information, compassion and progress in respect of the investigation into the circumstances of their loved ones’ deaths. Marquise has been warned already that the families are distressed and angry. 

I can’t be sure what the “real” Dick Marquise said to the US families. What follows is a reflection on a docudrama, but it is still a useful learning tool. 

As Dick Marquise walks up to, and takes his place, behind the podium, he apologises - but not for the families’ grief - for the absence of his senior who was “unable to be here”. He moves on briskly to say that he will update the families as to “where we’re at” and states that there are a lot of details which will not be available; he trusts that his audience will nevertheless find that the investigation is “progressing in a satisfactory manner”. 

Do you get the picture? I thought this was going to be a “Worth” moment (see my update dated April 2024, which is attached for those of you who weren’t clients then). However, this speech takes a different turn. 

There is a turning point in the speech when Dick Marquise pauses to listen to the family members who start to address him. At first, he counters a statement from a relative with “What you need to understand is…” (not good), but then, after another representation from a bereaved mother, he stops and really listens. You hear the resulting change in tone when he speaks next: he acknowledges the families’ sense of grievance at the investigation process, he says sorry for that (and it sounds heartfelt), he acknowledges their pain (“unimaginable”). 

He also comes out from behind the podium – this is a powerful reflection of his decision to connect with his audience in a different way. He doesn’t go on to deliver a self-justifying list of action points, but he does offer empathy and some form of connection. The audience ultimately want action, certainly, but what they want first is an acknowledgment of their pain. They are never going to be able to listen to action points before they have had that. 

What can we learn from this?

• Know your audience. Dick Marquise had been told how the families were feeling but he hadn’t factored that into the way he approached his presentation. As a consequence, he didn’t approach his audience in an appropriate tone, or sensitively. Efficiency may not be what your audience wants. 

• Listen to your audience during your speech or presentation. This doesn’t mean that you open yourself up to spontaneous heckling. You need to maintain control, but you also need to be sensitive to the dynamic in the room. Don’t plough on regardless if you are sensing negative feedback. If you are well enough prepared and practised you should have some head space to read the dynamic, to adjust and respond. 

• If it’s not going well, slow down. You see Dick Marquise slow down. He pauses. It’s not a moment of floundering, it’s a moment of careful consideration. 

And as a final observation, it is possible to rescue a bad speech – and sometimes you need to come out from behind the podium.